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The Enemy (episode)
La Forge and a Romulan are trapped on a planet ravaged by electromagnetic storms. Summary The intercepts a distress call from a craft within the Neutral Zone and Captain Picard chooses to set aside Federation diplomatic policy and quietly respond. The Enterprise is just about to reach the vessel at maximum warp when the object plummets to the surface of an inhospitable, though life-supporting planet. Powerful electromagnetic storms on the surface are obscuring all scans and Picard orders an away team to beam down to the surface to look for survivors. Riker, La Forge and Worf are dispatched, and great care is taken in maintaining a transporter lock on them. As the team disperses, it is made clear that the atmosphere is very harmful and that it causes slow health decay. Riker concludes that it was a Romulan craft they had been pursuing from the appearance of the remains. He finds a dead Romulan and orders the team to return assuming that it was a single-man craft. La Forge falls into a large chasm and his VISOR is damaged. Worf and Riker split up to search for him, but only find another Romulan, this one alive enough to feebly attack Worf. Worf and Riker beam back with the wounded Romulan to avoid being stranded on the planet when the transporter window closes. Upon return to the ship, Wesley Crusher launches a neutrino beacon that can be seen by La Forge's VISOR. He must alter its signal to alert the Enterprise to beam him up. On the planet, La Forge melts a silver ore, fashions it into a pole, and uses it to get out of the pit. He sees the neutrino beacon. Making his way towards it, La Forge is knocked out by a Romulan. Back on the ship, the Romulan is dying. Dr. Crusher determines that he needs a ribosome infusion from a compatible donor to live, one too complicated to replicate. As it turns out, only Lieutenant Worf has the compatible ribosome. Citing his parents' deaths at the hands of Romulans, Worf refuses to donate his blood and the Romulan states that he doesn't want "Klingon filth" in his blood anyway. At the same time, Picard engages in dialogue with the captain of a Romulan Warbird. They agree to rendezvous in the Neutral Zone, where Picard will hand over the dying Romulan found on the planet. On the planet, the Romulan, whose name is Bochra, holds La Forge at disruptor-point. La Forge attempts conversation with Bochra, however, the Romulan is very reluctant to relinquish authority or accept help, even after he is injured by falling rocks. The electromagnetic radiation has debilitating consequences for the Romulan, as he becomes paralyzed and is unable to walk. Similarly, La Forge's nervous system is compromised by the EM radiation, rendering him unable to process the signals he receives through his VISOR, and thus blind. Their only hope is being able to sense the neutrino stream. Bochra suggests using the tricorder in conjunction with La Forge's VISOR to do so, but La Forge cannot perform this task blindly. So, Bochra offers to be his eyes while La Forge directs him as how to connect the tricorder and VISOR. Finally, they are able to detect the location of the neutrino beam. Back on the ship, the Enterprise is still waiting anxiously to hear back from La Forge, when they find out that the Romulan ship has crossed the Neutral Zone and is entering Federation space. In response to the urgency of the situation, Picard asks that Worf volunteer to donate his blood to the Romulan in sickbay because they cannot afford causing an incident if the Romulan were to die on board a Federation starship. Worf respectfully refuses to do so and Picard, without further pursuing this, lets him go. While he informs Dr. Crusher as to Worf's decision, she tells him that the Romulan has already died. In the meanwhile, the Romulan ship approaches the Enterprise giving them one last chance to return their officer to them. When Picard informs him that he is dead, the Romulan ship powers its weapons. At this instant, the signal-pattern from the neutrino beacon modulates, indicating that La Forge found it and is alive. They also detect a second lifeform in addition to La Forge. They realize, however, that they cannot transport them with the shields up. At the same time, if they lower their shields, the Romulan vessel will strike. The EM window that allows for transport is closing, however, and they need to act quickly. Given that one of the people trapped on the planet is a Romulan, Picard hails the Romulan ship, explaining the situation and asks that they not fire on the Enterprise while it is transporting them over. Tomalak, the commanding officer on the Romulan ship, keeps ignoring Picard but he also does not fire when La Forge and Bochra are beamed right to the bridge. Picard tells Tomalak that he can transport his man back to his own ship. Bochra assures Tomalak that he has not given them any information and that in fact La Forge saved his life. Tomalak, who until the very end still refuses to acknowledge any wrong-doing on his side, is pleased. La Forge and Worf escort Bochra back to the transporter room so that the Enterprise can escort the Romulan ship out of Federation space. Log entries * [[Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), 2366#Distress Call at Galorndon Core|Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), 2366]] Memorable quotes "Thank you, Wesley!" : - La Forge, when he sees the probe "You're my prisoner!" "Right... congratulations. Surely a strategic triumph for the Romulan Empire. ''" : - '''Bochra' and La Forge when first meeting "You're lying!" "I never lie when I've got sand in my shoes." : - Bochra and La Forge "I'm blind." : - Geordi La Forge "We do have a right to detain him, captain." "Without clear evidence of intent, it would not be a simple matter." "This was obviously not pilot's error, captain... it requires a response from us." "We must measure the response carefully, Number One. Or history may remember Galorndon Core alongside Pearl Harbor and Station Salem-One... as the stage for a bloody preamble to war." : - Riker and Picard debating their response to the Romulan Incursion on Galorndon Core "How did this happen?" "I was born that way." "And your parents let you live?" "What kind of question is that? Of course they let me live!" "No wonder your race is weak. You waste time and resources on defective children." : - Bochra and La Forge discuss the latter's blindness "For what it's worth, I understand your bitterness." "With respect, sir, you cannot. I am asked to give up the very lifeblood of my mother and my father to those who murdered them." "Must you blame all Romulans for that?" "Yes." "Forever? What if some day the Federation made peace with the Romulans?" "Impossible." "That's what your people said a few years ago about Humans. Think how many died on both sides in that war. Would you and I be here now like this if we hadn't been able to let go of the anger and the blame? Where does it end, Worf? If that Romulan dies, does his family carry the bitterness on another generation?" : - Riker attempts to convince Worf to save Patahk's life "Lieutenant, sometimes the moral obligations of command are less than clear. I have to weigh the good of the many against the needs of the individual and try to balance them as realistically as possible. God knows I don't always succeed." "I have not a cause to complain, Captain." "Oh. Lieutenant, you wouldn't complain even if you had cause!" :- Picard attempts to convince Worf to save Patahk's life "You see - they have no way of knowing how accurate our sensors are... Put on your best poker face, Number One!" :- Picard, to Riker "Commander Tomalak. It would appear our away team has rescued a ''second man from your one-man ship." : - '''Picard' hails Tomalak Background Information Story and production * In early drafts of the script, Troi was also trapped on Galorndon Core. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion) * The plot point of Worf letting Patahk die by refusing blood met great resistance among some of the writing staff and Michael Dorn when it was suggested by Michael Piller. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion) ** Dorn commented, "I called the producers and said I didn't agree. I thought blood was the honorable thing to do. I thought people would look at Worf as a murderer. The producers felt that Worf was getting to be too human...just a guy with a big head. When the opportunity came for them to show that Worf was not human, that he is not bound by the same morals as we are, they felt it was a wonderful opportunity." In hindsight, however, Dorn saw the wisdom of the decision, remarking how it revealed the different sides of Worf. (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages) ** Piller noted, "Rick Berman knew instantly it was the right thing to do. Once he was behind me, it was a race to the finish line. And it was absolutely the right thing to do. You knew the audience was waiting for Worf to come around, because they always do that in television. But the character wouldn't do that and I think we made a really good decision. At first though, it was quite a shock and a controversial decision. But you end up talking about survival and survival among enemies. I think it was just a natural character development." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages) Continuity *The launch of the class 3 probe is stock footage from the episode . *This episode marks the first of four appearances of Romulan Commander Tomalak. *This is also the first Star Trek episode directed by David Carson. Carson would go on to direct several more episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, as well as the feature film . *Captain Picard states he will escort the Roumlan ship to the Neutral Zone, but at the very end, we see the ships travel off in two opposite directions. Video and DVD releases *Original UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 28, *UK re-release (three-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment): Volume 3.3, *As part of the TNG Season 3 DVD collection Links and references Starring *Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard *Jonathan Frakes as Commander William T. Riker Also starring *LeVar Burton as Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge *Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Worf *Gates McFadden as Doctor Beverly Crusher *Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi *Brent Spiner as Lieutenant Commander Data *Wil Wheaton as Ensign Wesley Crusher Guest stars *John Snyder as Bochra *Andreas Katsulas as Tomalak *Colm Meaney as Miles O'Brien *Steven Rankin as Patahk Uncredited co-stars * Michael Braveheart as Martinez References centurion; class-3 probe; ; distress signal; Galorndon Core; geiger counter; Pearl Harbor; Pi; neutrino; positron; ribosome infusion; Romulans; Romulan Neutral Zone; Romulan scout ship; security team; Station Salem-One; Tomalak's Warbird; tricorder; ultritium; VISOR; Vulcans |next= }} de:Auf schmalem Grat es:The Enemy fr:The Enemy ja:TNG:宿敵！ロミュラン帝国 nl:The Enemy pl:The Enemy Enemy,The